THE NEW YORKER fashioned walnut whatnot in the Tun- neys' music room. velt, Rachmaninoff, and Mrs. Charles Scribner, and to ask young Boris about his famous father. Well, Chaliapin père is fine, you'll be glad to learn-just decided that he needed a rest and post- poned the tour four months. Boris is a medium-sized, amiable edition of his father and doesn't mind talking about him instead of himself. We therefore asked him about the Chaliapin family and their affairs, and got things straight- ened out once and for all. When Boris was b0rn, thirty-three rears ago, Feodor had risen from the . '- F eodorovitch F EODOR CHALIAPIN, the great basso, has cancelled the concert tour he promised for this fall, but his son, Boris F eodorovitch Chaliapin, is carrying on here for the family with an exhibition of portraits at the Sullivan Galleries, 460 Park Avenue. We dropped in last week to look at the collection, which includes paintings of Mrs. James Roose- :If -' ^w 'j} :,:. t _________ . U u, u-. i. ;l tF-= " :-;-=7 r - Ii,. - I - "..,. --l,-' .. H ,!' " ,u I çi: Ì ;;:,.q ffl -' , X =ï t .:'.,: ",', I i. '! .. : .. I ! ...i ' h ii tl( ), , , "':::' "', : ' . 'x " ,'>,:i.;:)? ì :' ':""" ' " u? ',....' , ' :, ' \< , t , i; , ;- ,. ' , :: . : ,.: ,.: ....:.,.. . :.. . . : , .. m ,, , . '=? ?f ', t, > :.. .::,':,-' : \," ft' " :""'... ':',/<: , ,...::: I " \ : ,',',':)_ . '.' . j. "',..! " i ." I I ,:<.,'U {: '.<<-. :i:';.. . ::. -::::-=: ::<. ': !.,::% .:i t , t .:. -:-:-:-:-:.. . \'1('! :'/W' :'.:-::.:-: t.% ft.. ., :'. ' .. ...r :'.= -.. ( : '. . %.: r;. \: .., ..::::::t:;* . /.", \ ift <::,:.." :'. t::;::k;::":::\' .: :y.:;.,,,..<:,; . & ' .. . ':. :;:r : '"::.:::W ::=:.... fI l /" \\.L i'" .. u\\ \:,<'..t.&.i\.... .. ,,\.\..\''\.,:\1".'' '" ",. < ". (cy Do-hoD, children! liTl hen I count ten I want son eone to nan e a beautiful flower." 1 7 humblest peasant stock to enormous pop- ularity on the opera and concert stage. He named his son Boris after his great- est rôle-Boris Godunov, in Moussorg- sky's opera of that name. Boris's mother was Iole T ornagi, a ballerina at La Scala. This marriage resulted in four other children: Irene, an actress, now living in Moscow with her mother; Lydia, also an actress, in Rome; Tati- ana, who lives with her sister in Rome; and Feodor, Jr., who is doing bit parts in Hollywood. Chaliapin long ago di- vorced his first wife and married a Rus- sian girl, by whom he has had three daughters: Marfa, who lives in Eng- land; Marina, who lives in Rome, but not with her half-sisters; and Dassia, who lives with her parents in Paris. We tell you this just so you will real- ize how complicated family life can be. The Paris ménage, by the way, is in- stalled on the top floor of an apart- ment house which the basso owns and manages. Boris is proud of his father, but, he is careful to explain, unbiassed. "I am against the hero worship. I am objec- tive how I judge him. He is wonderful singer, wonderful actor, gourmet, con- noisseur of wine, expert on antique, can "", rite book, play 'cello, paint, draw. F rom lowest of low he rise by his boot- strap to highest of high." Boris would not discuss his father's departure from Russia in 1922, beyond saying, "He not agree entirely with Soviet regime." It seems now that Chaliapin wants to re- turn and that the Russians want him to return, but pride prevents either party's making the first overtures. Meanwhile, Boris is able to report that the old gent is as fiery as ever. Only a year ago, during a rehearsal, he flew into a tower- ing rage over some musical point. Boris brought up a chair and begged him to sit down and calm himself. "Is not my bottom that pains!" Feodor roared. "Is my soul!" He's a constant inspiration to Boris. "I say to myself, 'Jesus Christ, what a father I got,' " he says. Threat W E have just heard of a fragile and exquisite lady who managed, against all the regulations of the Cunard Line, to bring her dog across the At- lantic in her cabin, instead of in the kennels provided for pets. She says that the stewards and other attendants were at first inclined to argue, but that they shut right up when she said, "If you don't let me keep the dog, I shall just stuff your plumbing."